MBAA District Michigan Minutes

General Meeting Minutes of
April 7, 2005
Big Rock Chop House,
Birmingham MI

Board Meeting called to order at 11:10 am by Alec Mull

Present were BOGR Jan Muuse, President Alec Mull, Vice President Chad McDaniels, Secretary Rex Halfpenny, Treasurer Marty Rapnicki, Technical Chair John Haggerty, Overseer Chair George “Murf” Murphy, Member Jacob Derylo, Member Dan Rogers (Host), Member Hazen Schumacher, and Guest Gary Kozerski.

Alec Mull summarized the general meeting agenda. Announced the next district board meeting at Thunder Bay (Great Lakes Crossing Mall - 248-454-8486) Thursday, July 14, 2005, at noon.

Alec then led a planning and review discussion about the District Summer Social Fund Raiser scheduled for noon, August 6th at Addison Oaks Oakland Country Park, 9 miles north of Rochester on West Romeo Road, 248-693-2432.

The picnic will be fully catered this year by Paul Barnes, the caterer that provided the pig for our first social in 2003. Alec is the interface with this vendor.

Alec will again seek sponsors and have a commemorative T-Shirt produced in Red, White or Blue with sponsor logos, provided free to all paid attendees. Last year's sponsors will be given first right of refusal. Sponsorship is secured with $200.00+ donation.

The Peter Blum Memorial Award, the district educational scholarship, will be announced during the picnic. Members must be present to win and will have additional chances to win for each district meeting attended in 2005 and for every attendee present that they recruited for the picnic. The $1,000.00 Scholarship is to be applied to attending the MBAA 118th National Conference, October 14-16, 2005, in Miami, FL. Jan suggested and the board agreed that any significant sponsor for this year be added to the scholarship name. Alec suggested that someday, provided our fund raising efforts are successful, the district might offer a higher scholarship amount or even two scholarships.

During the picnic, the district will host two competitions. The Horseshoe Tournament is chaired by Marty Rapnicki. The Disc Golf Tournament is chaired by Sam Sherwood. In addition to organizing the events, the tournament chairs are responsible for securing prizes for their event winners. So as not to conflict with Alec's vendor sponsors, these prizes should be recruited from brewery members.

It was suggested that the secretary provide contact info to the picnic site:

Addison Oaks County Park
West Romeo Road (west off Rochester Road, 9 miles north of Rochester)
248-693-2432
Daily Vehicle Permit required:
Regular fee:    $10.00/Car/Day
Oakland County Residents    $5.00/Car/Day
Senior Citizen    $3.00/Car/Day
Free with Oakland County Annual Pass or Parks Perks Pass.
This park has camping; either cabins, hookup, or tent.
Prices vary from $24.00 to $80.00 night.
The park has facilities for boat rental, bike rental, picnic, horseshoes, 24-basket disc golf, paved and mountain bike trails, swimming, and playground.

Regarding Beer, the reason for our existence;
Brewery members are welcome to bring beer.
Murf Murphy is the beer coordinator. 248-953-0152 or murfonic@hotmail.com
Hazen Schumacher volunteered to bring 3 double coil draft boxes.
Alec Mull volunteered to bring the CO2
Rex Halfpenny volunteered to bring the ice

Jan Muuse volunteered to pre-make scholarship drawing tickets for member attendance at district meetings based on attendance sign-in sheets and gathered by Chad McDaniels.

Future Meetings:

October 20, Grand Rapids Brewing Company (616-285-5970)
    Technical Speaker, Dr. Kris Berglund, MSU on distillation
    Member Excursion, Bio-Chem Laboratories (Beer Analysis)
January meeting in conjunction with Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Conference
    Alec Mull is liaison with the Guild. District concern on location and accessibility.
Alec said the next Guild meeting, June 21st at Harpers in East Lansing, is open to MBAA members to express concerns and vote on location.

Concerning the district website hosted on the national website (www.mbaa.com). At the previous meeting, Mary Halfpenny was recruited to keep the site updated. On communicating with national she learned that they did not want to give others access to the site. We were invited to post information to their administrator who will post information to our site. Secretary Rex Halfpenny said he would handle this, beginning with the posting of these minutes and continue to post items of interest to members. The consensus was “We will see how this works.”

Gary Kozerski, a chemical engineer from Dow Corning was given the floor to announce the 2006 ACS Central Meeting in Frankenmuth, MI on May 16-20, 2006. The American Chemical Society Central Region meeting will include tracks dedicated to brewing chemistry. Gary asked the district for help in securing presenters and participation. The board expressed concerns over cost and content but was overall receptive to the idea. It was suggested that the conference be opened beyond Michigan to secure participation. Dr. Charlie Bamforth has been secured as the Keynote for Friday May 19th. The conference expects to draw 1,000 to 1,500 attendees. Ideas for the brewing track included yeast, fermentation, and sensory workshop. Of interest is the fact that the conference will take place at the same time as the Frankenmuth World Expo of Beer. It was decided that further information was required and Gary was invited to update us at the October meeting.

The Board Meeting was adjourned by Alec Mull at 12:05pm.

General Meeting was called to order by President Alec Mull at 12:40pm

In attendance were:
Board Members:
BOGR Jan Muuse, President Alec Mull, Vice President Chad McDaniels, Secretary Rex Halfpenny, Treasurer Marty Rapnicki, Technical Chair John Haggerty, Overseer Chair George “Murf” Murphy.
Members:
Doug Beedy, Wayne Burns, Jacob Derylo, Roland B. Hernandez, Scott Isham, Ron Jeffries, Kim Kowalski, Bret Kuhnhenn, Eric Kuhnhenn, Arnold McLean, Todd Parker, Vance Powell III, Andy Rathaus, Dan Rogers (Host), Hazen Schumacher, David Shaw, Tom Tylor, Rock VanMeter, Bill Wamby,
Guests:
Jason Britton, District Ontario, Mary Halfpenny, Michigan Beer Guide, Gary Kozerski, Dow Corning, Dave Lancome, Leonard Syrups, Ralph Woodall, Hopunion.

12:45pm: Technical Presentation by Ralph Woodall, Hopunion, on new hop varieties. Ralph is a life long resident of the Yakima Valley and grew up in the hop industry. He has been with Hopunion since 1986. He handed out information, presented samples for inspection, and spoke about Sterling, Horizon, Palisades, Newport and Glacier hops. He concluded by giving everyone hop candy made with Kent Goldings.

1:40pm: Lunch provided by Big Rock Chop House

2:40pm: Technical presentation by Murf Murphy on cask conditioned ale. Murf has spent the majority of his brewing career making English style beers on Peter Austin brewing systems. In these environments he has slowly developed his cellarmanship skills in the creation and serving of ales conditioned from the dispense vessel. Murf distinguished between the classic CAMRA definition and the reality of today's small brewer. He explained the process step by step with an emphasis on in house experience.

3:45pm: Break

4:00pm: General Meeting

Committee Reports

Treasurer's Report: Marty Rapnicki reported that the district has $9,154.53 in a CD set to mature on September 29, 2005. The district checking account has $2,872.04 including the $1,000.00 in 2004 scholarship funds awarded to Bret Kuhnhenn and Sam Sherwood in the amount of $500.00 each.

Jan Muuse reminded everyone of the 2005 National Conference in Miami, Florida, October 14-16, 2005 to be held in the Intercontinental Hotel. He also reminded everyone that he is the ticket man, the source for tickets for the MBAA Summer Social; $20.00 advance to members of the MBAA and the Michigan Brewers Guild, $25.00 to non-members. Door prices $5.00 higher. Any member wishing to sell tickets may contact Jan at 517-282-4662.

John Haggerty is working on getting speakers for the 2006 meetings. Anyone with topics or speakers they would like to see added to future meetings is invited to contact John at 616-355-6422.

No other committees reported. All accepted as reported.

Old Business

The next general meeting, October 20, Grand Rapids Brewing Company (616-285-5970).
    Technical Speaker, Dr. Kris Berglund, MSU on distillation
    Member Excursion, Bio-Chem Laboratories (Beer Analysis)
It was suggested that Rex Halfpenny share his experiences (beer and otherwise) down under at this meeting.

The membership was reminded of the MBAA National Conference, October 14-16, 2005, in Miami, FL (www.mbaa.com/meeting/default.htm)

The next meeting of the Michigan Brewers Guild is at Harpers on June 21, 2005. Members were encouraged to attend and provide input on where the next winter conference will be held. This conference will be a joint sponsorship between the Guild and the MBAA.

Alec updated the membership on the District Summer Social, noon, August 6th at Addison Oaks County Park.
West Romeo Road (west off Rochester Road, 9 miles north of Rochester)
248-693-2432
Daily Vehicle Permit required:
Regular fee:    $10.00/Car/Day
Oakland County Residents    $5.00/Car/Day
Senior Citizen    $3.00/Car/Day
Free with Oakland County Annual Pass or Parks Perks Pass.
This park has camping; either cabins, hookup, or tent.
Prices vary from $24.00 to $80.00 night.
The park has facilities for boat rental, bike rental, picnic, horseshoes, 24-basket disc golf, paved and mountain bike trails, swimming, and playground.

The district Summer Social Picnic begins at Noon and will include a fully catered picnic highlighted by our traditional roasted pig served at 1:00pm. The district has two events planned for member participation, a Horseshoe Tournament at 2:00pm chaired by Marty Rapnicki, and a Disc Golf Tournament at 3:00pm hosted by Sam Sherwood. Members please ask your brewery to donate swag for prizes and notify Marty 248-454-8486 and or Sam 616-776-1195 of your intent to bring them to the picnic.

The district is seeking sponsors ($200.00, all sponsors will have their logo on the official district commemorative T-shirt), door prizes, and beer. Any member who would like to have their company logo on this shirt or knows of a vendor who may like to sponsor please contact Alec Mull at 517-648-2496. Alec said he would approach MBAA national for sponsorship. Rex said he would have all this info posted on the district page of the national website.

Tickets are on sale at member establishments and Michigan Beer Guide (248-628-6584). Every member who sells one or more tickets to non-members (and writes his/her name on the back of the tickets) will get extra chances to win the scholarship.

New Business

Rex Halfpenny announced opportunities to take the Beer Judge Certification Program Exam, April 16, 2005 at Big Rock Chop House and judging opportunities at the Michigan Beer Guide Brewers Cup April 23, 2005 at Copper Canyon and on May 6, 2005 at Frankentrost Tavern for the World Expo of Beer. Brewers interested in judging please contact Rex at 248-628-6584.

Alec informed the members of the ACS Central Regional Meeting in Frankenmuth, May 16-20, 2006 in conjunction with the 2006 Frankenmuth World Expo of Beer. Featuring a track dedicated to brewing chemistry. Costs and details would be forthcoming and announced at the general meeting at Grand Rapids Brewing Company in October.

Move to close was accepted at 4:50pm.